Greg Burson

Gregory Lewis Burson (August 15, 1949 – July 22, 2008) was an American voice actor. He was best known for being one of the many successors to voice actors Daws Butler (who was also Burson's mentor) and Mel Blanc following their deaths in 1988 and 1989 respectively.

Career

One of Burson's earliest jobs, which did not pay well but got him lots of attention, was doing the voiceover for a Dianetics commercial for Scientology. He was trained by Daws Butler, who was his acting mentor and one of his influences. Following Butler's death, Burson inherited most of his characters, starting with Yogi Bear on '' The New Yogi Bear Show'' and many other characters in Hanna-Barbera-related shows. Burson based his Yogi voice on Butler's portrayal in the earlier ''Yogi Bear'' episodes, due to having grown up watching them as a child. He also inherited the role of Mr. Magoo in the animated segments of the live action feature film of the same name in 1997 (after Jim Backus died in 1989).

Burson was also one of the successors to Mel Blanc, and voiced many of his characters as well, including Bugs Bunny, for whom he was given the responsibility of voicing in 1995's '' Carrotblanca'', a well-received 8-minute ''Looney Tunes'' cartoon originally shown in cinemas alongside ''The Amazing Panda Adventure'' ( USA and Canada) and '' The Pebble and the Penguin'' (non-US). It has since then released on video, packaged with older ''Looney Tunes'' cartoons, and was even included in the special edition DVD release of ''Casablanca'', of which it is both a parody and a homage. Burson found Bugs' voice difficult to get right, eventually basing it on Blanc's portrayal in the 1950s.

Burson also voiced Bugs in the 1997 short '' From Hare to Eternity'', which is notable for being dedicated to Friz Freleng (who had died in 1995). It was also notable for being the final ''Looney Tunes'' cartoon that Chuck Jones had directed before his death in 2002. Burson also provided Bugs' voice in new animation for '' Bugs 'n' Daffy'', which ran on Kids' WB from 1995 to 1998. Alternating with Jeff Bergman, Bob Bergen, Joe Alaskey, Jim Cummings, Maurice LaMarche, and Billy West, he also voiced several other ''Looney Tunes'' characters including Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Tweety, Sylvester, Elmer Fudd, Yosemite Sam, Marvin the Martian, Tasmanian Devil, Pepé Le Pew, Speedy Gonzales, and Foghorn Leghorn on various Warner Bros. animated television series, films, toys, and video games.

His other voice work includes shows such as '' CatDog'', '' Batman: The Animated Series'', '' All-New Dennis the Menace'', ''Mother Goose and Grimm'', '' The Angry Beavers'', ''Johnny Bravo'', '' Samurai Jack'', ''The Smurfs'', ''Super Friends'', ''The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat'' and '' Garfield and Friends'', the feature film ''Jurassic Park'' and the three ''Star Wars'' video games ''The Phantom Menace'', '' Jedi Power Battles'', and ''The Gungan Frontier''.

In 1995, at the height of the popularity of R. L. Stine's '' Goosebumps'' book and television series, though not known at the time, and his only performance in it, he was also the voice behind one version of the commercial that promoted the "Goosebumps Fan Club" in some of the old VHS tapes of the television show of the same name, while Tony Jay recorded a second version of the same promo. Burson also lent his voice to several promos for Fox Kids.

Legal issues

In May 2004, Burson was arrested by detectives after barricading himself inside his home in Tujunga for six hours before surrendering. Initial reports claimed that an armed S.W.A.T. team had responded to a call from two of his female roommates that he was drunk, armed and holding a third female roommate hostage. Officers later discovered that he had a collection of guns in his home. Burson also screamed a stream of nonsensical words at the police when they were alerted to his home; one officer said, "He was so drunk, we couldn't tell if he was trying to do one of his voices or was just slurring his words." Officer Rudy Villarreal confirmed that all three women involved in the incident lived with Burson, but none of them were harmed. The incident resulted in Burson being blacklisted for the rest of his life.

Death

After losing voice-over work, Burson struggled with depression and alcoholism. On July 22, 2008, he died at the age of 59 due to complications from diabetes and arteriosclerosis.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Theme parks

Radio

Discography

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Burson, Greg
1949 births
2008 deaths
20th-century American male actors
21st-century American male actors
American male voice actors
American male video game actors
Deaths from diabetes in California
Hanna-Barbera people
Male actors from Los Angeles
American impressionists (entertainers)